Viper Squad
by gfdhgfdjzdjzfdjgz798gjd9ug450e
Summary: After the Separatist declaration of war an old veteran who refuses to retire forms and experimental squad of Commandos. This story talks about five individuals who each volunteer to fight for their own reasons. Follow them through the Clone Wars as they overcome challenges and bring the Republic closer to victory with each battle all the while forming an unbreakable bond.
1. Chapter 1

_A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…_

 **VIPER SQUAD: A Star Wars Story**

 _It is an era of uncertainty and doubt in the Republic. As more and more planets slowly distance themselves from the Republic due to internal conflict and corruption within the Senate the crime organizations, pirates, gangs and other petty criminals try their best to secure themselves a better life by robbing, pillaging and killing._

 _The Judicial service alongside the Jedi and planetary policing forces are trying their best to secure the peace wherever they can but due to the newly found Separatist alliance that is looking to overthrow the Republic and alongside many of the smaller civil and proxy wars that have shown up they have their hands full and are unable to help._

 _Task Force Viper which had been formed years prior and contains only the best soldiers that the Republic has to offer is tasked with saving a senator from the hands of a pirate gang. With time running out and the Galaxy coming ever closer to disaster will this small crew of men and women be able to do their job and secure whatever little bit of stability they could with saving one of the Galaxy's most esteemed Senators…_

(Corellia, CORSEC HQ, 22 BBY)

Deep below the CORSEC building on Corellia, far below any other building stretched lay a secret complex, equipped with a shooting range, kill house, top of the range military weapon and equipment laboratories, a large office area where each member of Task Force Viper had their own room and a state-of-the-art military operations room. TFV was a super-secret group of soldiers, analysts and scientists which even many of the senators didn't know existed. It had been created 10 years prior to the Separatist crisis to more effectively combat acts of terrorism due to the Judicial services proving to not be enough to handle such threats.

All around there were two five-man teams and around forty staff members. Even though their numbers were low they were the best equipped and the most feared soldiers in the entirety of the known galaxy. The operatives led normal lives until they were called up for mission. They also had to undergo regular physical and mental check-ups showing that they were ready for duty whenever it called.

30 minutes prior both of the teams had been called in to receive their next orders. They were all assembled outside the briefing room in their casual clothing.

"What do you think its this time? Spice warehouse? Twi'lek trafficking?" Marcus, A-team's explosive specialist asked. Even though he was the youngest standing member he had been operating within the unit for four years.

"Hopefully something easy. I have a flight to Ord Mantell in two days," Flash said.

"Is it your family being annoying again?" Sage asked him. Sage was the second youngest member, being recruited from the field after he helped secure a train full of hostages. He was the only one who was ever recruited from the field without an extensive background in the military due to his natural skill with a blaster and good strategic thinking which saved four viper members on the mission.

"Yeah. They want me to help out on the farm," Flash answered, leaning on the wall with his back.

"Good day boys," Razer, A-team's leader and the oldest member of TFV alongside B-team's leader named Chief. All A-team members greeted him back with the exception of Mute who got his name from never opening his mouth except if specifically addressed. "Mute?"

"I'm good, Sir," he answered quietly. Outside of mission he usually avoided contact as much as possible unless he needed to use some people for portraits. He always carried around a sketchbook in which he drew things nobody knew since he never showed it to anybody.

B team was standing off to the side just chatting and laughing. Chief, Rommy, Duke, Hawker and Cutler were all long-standing members of TFV. They were all normal people with military backgrounds except for Hawker. He had the military background part but no the normal life one. Prior to joining the military there were no records confirming his existence and he had the most peculiar way of speaking. The only part of his background which was never confirmed was his homeplanet. His dialect along with the descriptions he gave about the planet he remembered very little about since he and his father left when he was five didn't match any known planet in the galaxy. He spoke of every imaginable biome, seasons and weather being on one planet. A handful of planets came to mind when he described it but when he got into the details people wondered if he was just making things up.

Then all of the sudden the door to the briefing room flung open and General Marleen's voice rang through for them to come in. A few moments later they were all standing at attention looking at the general who was pacing on the other side of the holo-table. The General who was a Corellian native was the brain behind every operation and also the man who brought forward the idea of TFV.

"A situation has developed on Alderaan," he said, pressing a few keys on the table's panel. A hologram of Alderaan appeared which gradually zoomed in, giving a birds eye view of a large mansion which turned into a 3D hologram of said mansion. "This is one of the countryside mansions owned by the Organa family. Senator Organa was hosting a meeting there when the mansion was attacked by pirates," he reported.

"Pirates, sir?" Chief asked in confusion. Pirates weren't usually the ones that conducted these sorts of activities.

"That's what the reports say. All the staff and guards were killed in the initial attack with senator Organa and the guests being held in the room where the meeting was taking place. The pirates' ships managed to somehow penetrate the mansion's shield generator and drop anywhere from twenty to fifty armed combatants around the mansion," Marleen continued. "There is a large orchard behind the mansion which will be your entry point. There are motion sensors placed all around the outer perimeter of the orchard and mansion so direct ground infiltration is impossible. Your main priority is the senator and his guests."

"Can't we just shut off the mansion's electricity to get rid of the motion sensors?" Razer asked.

"The Judicial forces present in the area tried that already but the mansion has its own power generator which has more than enough fuel to power all the defenses for at least thirty days. Any more questions?"

"You said that we can't get in on the ground. How will we get in because it doesn't really look like we could land anywhere without getting spotted?" Chief asked.

"Good question. Your answer awaits you in the lab along the rest of your gear," he said before stopping and putting his hands behind his back. "You have dealt with pirates many times before so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Now get out there and show them what Viper's about. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Chief said and all of them saluted the general before heading off to collect their gear.

"Rocket boots. Is this a joke?" Sage asked Doctor Chrome. The reason for the doctor's nickname was due to his prosthetic left leg and arm – both of which he lost in separate science experiments.

"No, this is not a joke. These boots are light, and the fuel canisters have just enough fuel to stop you from dying. Oh, and the canisters are detachable, so they won't obstruct you once you hit the ground." Chrome talked very fast, sometimes even speaking so fast that nobody could understand him, all the while he fiddled with his hands or hair.

Razer walked off to the other side of the metal table where a large box filled with two grenades he never saw before lay. "What are these?" he asked taking out one and inspecting it.

Chrome gasped and immediately ran to him, took the grenade from his hand and put it back into the box. "Do not touch that."

"Why not? We'll use them on the mission won't we," Razer said, reaching for one again.

Chrome slapped his hand away. "These are new experimental one of a kind EMP grenades. You can use them just like any other grenade but they haven't been properly tested so you should deem them volatile."

"Why are we gonna need these?" Marcus asked exiting the locker room which was only a few steps away from the table. He wore his full combat gear. Viper operatives were allowed to wear any gear they liked as long as at least seventy-five percent or more of their face was covered and if Marleen approved it.

Chrome walked over to the other side of the table to pick up his datapad. "I'm guessing this came in after Marleen sent you down here. The Judicials have sent in two probes that they have lost signal to at the same time. No gunshots or anything so they're assuming that there's a jammer somewhere in that orchard." He put the lid on the case and pushed it over to Razer and Marcus. "And before I forget. The effective range of these is ten to twenty meters and they don't forget they will fry your electrical equipment as well."

"Ten to twenty? How does that even work?" Marcus asked confusedly.

"It's because it doesn't – yet of course but once you come back and provide me with information I shall improve upon this design. Good luck gentlemen," he said before letting out a short nervous laugh.

"Take it up to the ship," Razer told Marcus who nodded and took the case while Razer went into the locker room.

The rest of his team passed him at the entrance all ready in their battle gear. He walked over to his locker and put his hand on the scanner, releasing the lock. He slowly opened the locker. On the door he had a few pictures of his late wife and child. Every time he looked at the pictures it brought back sorrow, but it motivated him to do better. About a year after he joined TFV they were called up to they were called up to resolve a hostage situation in one of the tram stations on Corellia. Things turned sour and the terrorists managed to blow up the station taking his wife and daughter among many other innocent civilians.

He quickly exchanged his clothes for his black long-sleeved T-shirt with an urban camo on the sleeves, black cargo pants, fingerless gloves and the boots that Doctor Chrome supplied him and his team. He then proceeded to put on his vest in which he carried thermal detonators, extra power packs and his trusty sidearm which was an A170. He then strapped his knife sheath around his forearm and quickly sharpened his knife before sheathing it. He kissed his palm and put it on his family's photo before taking out his balaclava, goggles and blaster rifle.

Slamming the locker shut, he slung the blaster rifle over his shoulder and put on his balaclava which had a single hole cut out for his eyes. Someone's mumbling caught his curiosity so he checked around the corner where B team's lockers were instead of heading out.

It was Hawker who was sitting on a bench. Razer never really knew the man well although he had been working with him for years, but he had never seen him do something this strange. He was holding a small book and a cross that was tied to a beaded necklace that flailed around in the air. He had drawn his two signature blue lines on his cheeks.

"Whit are ye lookin at?" Hawker asked tightening his grip on the book and beaded necklace. He winced when he saw that he said that to a superior. "Ah am sorry sir," he said immediately.

"It's not a problem. I shouldn't have been staring I was just wondering what you were up to."

"Ah wus mindin ma dad," he said. "This is aw he left fur me. Sometimes Ah read a bit ae it. Makes me mind 'im." Although he didn't speak much and minded his business through the few sentences he spoke Razer learned how to translate his weird dialect to basic as it wasn't very different.

"I know how it feels like to have so little to remember people by." Razer said staring at the floor, remembering all the good times he had with his family.

"Ah am sorry aboot whit happened there on thon day," Hawker said.

"We did all we could." A few moments of silence followed. "I'll meet you at the ship." Hawker lifted his hand in the air as a gesture of understanding.

(Alderaan)

Their Kappa-class shuttle was speeding towards the mansion grounds and it was only a minute or two away from the drop zone. The red light turned on illuminating the passenger area. The teams stood up from their benches and began checking their equipment. After checking Flash's equipment he tapped him on the right shoulder twice, telling him that he was ready to go. After the same had been done to Razer by Markus he put on his goggles and they joined the other three guys at the back of the ship where the ramp was.

B team was standing on the opposite side of the ramp looking just as ready as they were to head into the action. But instead of the confidence he always had Razer just felt like something was off. But he didn't have time to ponder as the red light shifted into a green one and he found himself plummeting through the chilly night air towards the ground below him.

* * *

 _This single chapter was much more fun to write than any of the previous ones in The Forgotten Order. I really thought this story through and so I hope that I will be able to present it to you in the best possible way._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(Alderaan, 22 BBY)

He didn't even know how he landed all he remembered was that he did and was now helping Marcus whose foot got stuck in between two branches. It took a few minutes for the branch to loosen under Razer's swings but when it finally did Marcus let out a growl of pain as he hit the ground full on. Luckily for him he fell less than a meter otherwise he might've actually sustained injuries.

"Thanks," Marcus said as he was dusting himself off.

"Don't mention it," Razer said putting his knife back in its sheath while scanning the area for hostiles. "Have you seen where the other guys landed?"

"No. This orchard's way bigger than it looked in the holo," Marcus said. He picked his weapon off the floor and checked it. A soldier's worst nightmare was a broken weapon.

"Guess we'll have to find them later. For now let's focus on finding that jammer. Do you have the EMPs?"

He opened one of the pouches on his vest and brought out the EMP grenade. "I have one. I gave the other to Flash," he said handing it to Razer. In normal circumstances they could've contacted the other squad members over their comms but due to the jammer they were unable to do so.

Razer exchanged a thermal detonator for the EMP. "Keep low and quiet." Marcus nodded, and they began to make their way further into the orchard.

It only took them a minute to find the first delinquents – two Weequays dressed in ragged clothing with old and rusty blaster rifles slung over their shoulders as they tore down and apple each.

"I'm gonna take the one on the left, you get the other," Razer ordered. Marcus immediately began moving farther to the right in order to flank them while Razer headed into the other direction. Due to the lamp that was the pirates placed on the ground they couldn't get too close before attacking which presented them with a problem – if they were too slow once they attacked the pirates could shoot and jeopardize the whole mission so they had to be quick.

Razer got as close as he could and waited for Marcus to do the same. Luckily for the latter his area was covered in thick bushes that were much closer to their targets. So, when Marcus popped out of the bush and grabbed the Weequay Razer had to get up and cover a distance of fifteen meters in a blink of an eye. Luckily he did so, grabbing the other Weequay from behind and slitting its throat. They dragged the bodies into the bushes and extinguished the lantern.

"You see that?" Marcus asked, looking over the bushes. Razer looked where he was looking and spotted a line of lights in the distance.

"Must be a path or something. Let's check it out it might lead us to the jammer," Razer said. He cleaned his knife before they headed out towards the lights.

Razer turned out to be right. It seemed like the stone paved path led covered a straight line through the entire orchard. They heard distant mumbling, so they hid behind the trees and waited. Another Weequay patrol walked down the path. Marcus already had his knife out ready to attack. Just as he was about to jump out Razer pulled him back. "Wait." They both looked over at the Weequay patrol as two men jumped out from the darkness of the trees and bushes on the other side of the path. The two pirates met the same fate as their colleagues as they were quickly disposed off. The two figures dressed in black began dragging the bodies into the bushes when Razer let out a whistle – not too loud as too attract much attention but not quit enough for them to not hear it.

The two immediately dropped the bodies and raised their rifles. Razer began slowly rising from the bush with his hands in the air. After they realized they were aiming at friendlies they immediately lowered their blaster rifles and dragged the bodies into the bushes before joining Razer and Marcus on the other side of the pathway.

"Rommy, Sage," Razer greeted them. "Have you seen any of the others?"

"No, but we found a couple of fuel canisters with some signs of struggle. I don't know who it was but they've been captured," Rommy reported.

"Just great," Marcus said under his breath.

"But we think we found their trail. We found drag marks close to the canisters which led directly to this path. We already followed it the other way and came up on a wall so we're guessing that wherever they took them it had to be that way," Sage said, pointing down the pathway.

"We'll follow the path then," Razer said.

"We also found something weird," Rommy began. "Close to the canisters were two long parallel scorch marks, but we they were way too long to be blaster marks."

"We'll have to worry about what caused that later. You two get back on the other side and advance at the same pace as us," he ordered.

It didn't take them long to find a large open area with a large wooden pavilion in the middle. The structure was large enough to host a family of three. "That wasn't in the holo as well," Marcus said irritably. Bad intel was usually the main cause of casualties and Razer knew that well. There was a large device with an antenna under the pavilion alongside the two missing soldiers which turned out to be Cutler and Duke. The place was flooded with pirates, most of them drunk. They drank, danced and talked all the while listening to their version of "good music" which made Razer's ears want to bleed.

Cutler and Duke were being interrogated by a pirate that by his clothing looked like a higher up. He continuously yelled at them and hit them with the butt of his rifle. Every hit was met by cheers of the drunken audience. Razer didn't know whether they were answering the question neither did he care. In his head he was making a plan on how to deal with the situation. Stealth was impossible and going in guns blazing would severely reduce the chance of the B team members making it out alive.

But Razer's hope of making a plan that would save everyone was shattered when he was brought of his thoughts by the sound of a blaster going off. It took him a few moments to realize that Cutler had been shot. And it took Marcus shaking him violently and calling his name to realize the fact that they were getting shot at. The whole event reminded him of how powerless he truly was. Powerless to save his family and powerless to save his captured friends but that didn't mean that he wouldn't get revenge. He finally managed to pull himself out of the minor panic attack and started returning fire.

He knew better than to underestimate his opponent. Even though most of the pirates were drunk a stray shot could end his life so he regularly returned his head and body behind cover and worked with Marcus as best as he could. Just as the number of pirates began thinning reinforcements began showing up. The fresh reinforcements who weren't drunk proved to be more of a challenge as they found themselves pinned down. Razer had begun losing hope as the number of bolts heading into his and Marcus's direction increased by the second. If his death came in battle he always wished he had time to remember his family and it seemed that his time came. He began running through his memories as he slowly loosened the grip on his rifle.

"Razer! Razer!" He was pulled out of his thoughts once again, this time by Marcus who was pointing towards the pavilion. "Look."

As the frequency of bolts lessened, he peeked out from behind the tree and saw that the Weequays were now split between attacking two sides. He looked over to where Rommy and Sage were as he thought that they flanked the pirates, but they were still there returning fire which only meant that some other Vipers joined the fight. Putting his family aside for a moment and returning to the fight he began returning fire. He and Marcus began advancing as the number of pirates thinned and before long they were already taking cover behind the large concrete platform on top of which the pavilion lay.

The pirates now encircled they couldn't do anything but surrender. The firing stopped as the last five pirates approached the stairs with their hands raised high in the air. Razer wanted to start issuing commands to their prisoners but he was prevented from doing so by a flurry of blue bolts that rained past him and into the pirates, killing all of them.

He saw the smoke of the blaster rifle out of the corner of his eye. He forced it out of Rommy's hands and threw it. "What's wrong with you?"

"I… I…" Rommy's breathing was quick and heavy.

Seeing as it wasn't the best situation to cause divides within the teams Razer let it go and issued him a warning. "We'll have a word about this later."

Chief and Hawker awaited them at the top. Chief was staring down at the bodies of his teammates that were executed by the pirate. He joined him at his side with the rest of the men. "They were good men," Chief said holding his helmet close to his chest, paying respect to his fallen brothers.

"We'll avenge them," Razer said, patting Chief's shoulder. In situations like this Chief always adopted an undecipherable blank stare. It could've been a stare of hate, sadness or something else but Razer knew that whatever the case was it was best to leave him alone so he turned his attention to Hawker.

"Did you see Flash and Mute by any chance?" he asked. Hawker shook his head as an answer before heading off to one of the sides of the pavilion to check for incoming pirates. Rommy did the same albeit on the other side of the pavilion while Razer, Sage and Marcus checked out the jammer.

"It's impossible," Sage said checking out the antenna. A team didn't have a member that knew a lot about the inner workings of such technologies. Out of all of them Sage was the best at it so whenever they were in a situation like that they let him analyze those types of installations. "This is high-tech military equipment," he said. "There's no way pirates would've been able to get their hands on something like this alone." Razer's bad feeling only grew as a result. He knew something felt off about this whole thing.

"Then who did they get this from?" Marcus asked.

"I have no idea and we also don't have the time to find out so let's get rid of this thing," Sage said.

"Agreed. You two pass on the word to Hawker and Rommy that we're moving out. I'll talk to chief."

"Got it," they said almost in unison.

Razer approached Chief who was still standing in the same spot as before. "I'm sorry about your loss but we have to move out," he said. Without uttering a word Chief put his helmet back on and headed for the stairs the others descended moments earlier. Walking over there himself, Razer primed the EMP grenade and rolled it towards the device before running down the stairs. A low frequency tone followed by a flash of blue light emitted from the pavilion as the EMP grenade detonated.

"This can't be happening!" Marcus exclaimed with a hand on his forehead.

After disabling the jammer, they managed to reestablish communications. After multiple attempts to contact Flash and Mute were met by static the team decided to locate them via their tracking beacons inside their comms. The morale was already low but it dropped even further after arriving at the location where the tracking beacons said they were.

They found Flash hanging off a tree with a blaster mark on his face while Mute lay beneath the tree with two small and round holes in his back. They had landed closer to the mansion than anybody else which meant that they had to have been seen by a patrol as the frequency of those raised the closer, they got to the mansion.

They were taught to keep calm during even the most difficult situations, but it was hard to ignore a teammate's death. Regardless they had to keep moving and rescue Senator Organa. After a few short firefights they finally managed to get a first glance at the luxurious white and blue mansion.

"This certainly is odd," Chief commented upon a closer inspection. There was nobody outside the mansion and also there was nobody they could see on the balconies or through the windows. All of the lights were turned off as well except in the room where the hostages were held.

"Probably an ambush," Razer deduced. "Sage, Marcus, Hawker you three will go in one of the side entrances and clear the bottom floor while we enter the top floor and clear it." The tree of them acknowledged the command and headed off leaving Razer, Chief and Rommy alone.

"Let's get up on that balcony," Chief said pointing at the balcony closest to them. They ran through the clearing that separated the orchard from the mansion while keeping their heads low. They took covered Chief as he prepared the grapple. After throwing it up the balcony he checked if it was safe and soon they were already stacked at the glass door that led into the mansion. Razer tapped chief on the shoulder signaling that they were ready to go in. Chief pushed the door open and they entered the room one by one each clearing their own side. They entered the inner pool area which turned out to be empty.

"Whoah," Rommy exclaimed as he took in the luxurious room. "I wouldn't mind living here." All around the walls were painted with scenes from the Alderaanian countryside while an enormous golden chandelier hanged from the ceiling.

"Let's keep moving," Chief ordered as he got into position at the room's two-door entrance. They kept doing the same thing, clearing out every room one by one.

"Get ready." They were at the door of the room where the hostages were held. The entire upper floor was clear of activity and he also hadn't heard anything from the team downstairs so he thought that they probably hadn't found anything as well.

It was Razer's time to go in first. The few moments he still had before he would receive the tap on the shoulder were spent thinking of what would await him on the other side. A hundred pirates or perhaps it would be the same story as for every other room. He took one last deep breath and readied himself. He took a step back and kicked in the door after he received the tap. But instead of pirates he was met with a force he couldn't even sense that pushed him into the wall as soon as he stepped into the room, knocking him out.

The next few minutes were only images for him. First, he saw a person dressed in a garb a cowl as the void of space. Next, he saw her holding two red swords of energy. After that he was pretty sure he saw Rommy's bolts get deflected back to him, killing him immediately. And then came the image that shocked him the most. The person had one of their arms extended while Chief floated in the air and clawed at his neck as if something was strangling him. The last thing before he was plunged into eternal darkness was the glass shattering as two men with the same energy swords but blue entered the room through the windows.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It felt like an internal loop of suffering. The images kept popping up in his head each feeling like another stab wound. The struggle to keep himself conscious, the death of Rommy, the unknown fate of Chief and the others, the two mysterious men that jumped through the window to save them. Was he even saved? Maybe that's all the afterlife was – seeing the same cycle of events before his death. All the different types of people he met in life made him believe it was so much more. From dreamers to the most radical of cult followers, he met and worked alongside such soldiers. Some spoke of a promised land where you would be reunited with your lost ones, some spoke of rebirth, the others he forgot due to the ideas being far too outrageous. But he was a soldier his entire life and no amount of pain would break him.

"Razer?" an echoey voice asked. A tiny white circle appeared that slowly widened until it transformed into a bright light. The voice kept saying his name. The first time he realized he was alive was when he was finally able to move his head and feel the soft mattress below him. His vision still hazy he managed to make out the face of Marleen who was sitting next to his bed dressed in his sleek green uniform.

Lifting his head from the pillow caused him such pain and dizziness that he leaned his head back on it as soon as he saw Marleen. He sighed. "Am I dead?"

Marleen chuckled slightly in response. "No, you are actually alive and well for the most part."

Razer had so many questions to ask he didn't know where to begin. "How did I get here?"

"Two Jedi arrived at the scene in time. Turns out the Separatists were involved," Marleen answered before going quiet for a few moments. His hands were clasped in front of him and he was switching his gaze from the floor to Razer and back. "We lost good men."

"They will be missed. We will come back, we always do," Razer said with a small smile.

"Sadly, not this time old friend." Razer's smile faded. He didn't believe what he heard.

"What do you mean?"

"Task Force Viper has been officially disbanded seven days ago with all its funding being diverted to the Grand Army of the Republic." The pain and anger that went through Razer at that moment were far greater than the pain those images produced.

"On whose jurisdiction?" he said through gritted teeth. He managed to lift his head while asking the question, but the pain was again too great for him to stay like that. He hadn't even thought about the fact that Marleen mentioned a brand-new entity he had never heard about before – the Grand Army of the Republic.

"The Chancellors I'm afraid," Marleen said.

"But the Republic needs something like us," Razer protested.

"They don't anymore," Marleen countered with a sigh. Razer knew that he was just as heartbroken as himself.

"Why? How long have I been out for? What happened?" Razer's tone became ever more aggressive and louder.

Marleen shook his head slightly and sighed. "Well you missed a lot is the short answer," he explained. He stood up and moved over to the window on the opposite side of the bed and looked out of it into the lively night of Corellia. From what Razer could make out huge wedge-shaped ships were being assembled high above the city. "It's war Razer. A war on the scale the galaxy hasn't seen in thousands of years. After the Separatist involvement with the capture of Senator Organa was confirmed more and more conflicts began erupting until Geonosis. That's where the war changed from a proxy war to full-scale conflict."

"But there aren't enough Judicials or anything else as a matter of fact to conduct a full-scale war," Razer protested.

"As it turns out an army of clones was being trained behind the curtains for about a year or so. They are now the bulk of the Republic military with the Jedi acting as generals."

Razer didn't even believe cloning was a thing yet alone at such a massive scale that it could create an entire army. Although the prospect of having every soldier be modeled after a perfect soldier was a thing people experimented with it never happened due to the differences between beings, physiques and mental states. What one person could accomplish with ease could put the other person over the edge, so the prospect of cloning said soldier made sense, but Razer didn't believe that clones could adapt effectively enough.

Then came the Jedi. He didn't know much about them, but he heard stories of them kidnapping children or at least that's what some deranged old village elder told him once, so that wasn't really a reliable source. The rest he heard about them were tales of great warriors singlehandedly taking on tasks not even a hundred Judicials could complete. These warriors were good on their own but they couldn't even come close to the tactical prowess a man like Marleen had. "What happened with the other generals?"

"Honorably discharged with enough of a pay to keep them quiet. Coincidentally it's the same thing they offered to everybody in TFV. Everybody already accepted the terms and started new lives or just returned to the ones they had outside Viper just like me. You're the last one alongside another stubborn bastard," Marleen told him.

"You know I can't take that offer." He had made a vow to his after his wife and daughter's death. He wouldn't stop fighting for good and justice until he died. And besides, there wasn't much else he knew how to do. He had been a soldier his entire life, he couldn't just turn everything around in an instant. "The vow I made…"

"I know."

"You can help me get in. I know that you know people far above even your positions. Pull some strings for me," Razer pleaded.

"I…" Marleen bit his lip. "Are you sure?" he said, turning his head to face Razer who nodded in response. He then looked back and took a deep breath. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. The possibility of anything coming out of this is next to none, but I'll try my best. You just heal up and I'll visit after I get a response," he said, already heading towards the door.

"No problem, boss," Razer said waving him off as he exited the room.

The news Marleen delivered were great. He stopped by the hospital a week ago just before Razer underwent surgery. The injury proved to be much more dangerous than initially estimated. His skull nearly split open from his head hitting the edge of a wardrobe with such a high velocity, so there was a chance that his skull would completely crack open if put under any more such stress which was possible on the battlefield. But the doctors offered him a solution. The very shallow surface crack which was the biggest problem could be filled with some new experimental medical wizardry which Razer didn't particularly care about. All he cared about when Marleen brought him the news was about getting back out there.

He still vividly remembered how he entered the room with the very rare smile on his face. He managed to convince a few higher-ups who were still functioning within the army to give Razer a chance. They gave him the approval to form an "experimental" squad to see if other people could work alongside clones. Due to his immense experience and tactical prowess he had been given the rank of lieutenant with every other member being instantly promoted to sergeant which was due to the squad being assigned as commandos instead of normal soldiers.

All that was left to do was build a squad. From the surviving members of TFV, only Hawker accepted the invitation while Sage and Marcus denied almost instantly. Razer understood them. If he was as young as them and experienced such things, he would've gladly left everything behind, especially if he had a guaranteed lifetime pay, but it was far too late for him and it would go against everything he stood for. Marleen stated that one of the TFV recruiters lived near him and kindly offered to find potential candidates. Razer didn't know many people outside TFV, so he kindly accepted the offer.

After spending another tiresome week in the hospital, the doctors finally let him go. He exchanged the blue hospital clothes for the stuff Marleen brought in for him. As he strolled down the white corridors, he said goodbye to all the doctors and nurses that did their jobs as they should've. The hospital was fifteen stories high, so the elevator ride didn't take particularly long.

So finally, after weeks of reading holonovels, looking out of the windows into the vastness of Coronet city and laying and just thinking about what was and what could be he was finally able to bear the streets once again.

Coronet city offered varying amounts of transportation. From taxi drivers with which you could sometimes strike up interesting conversations to the crowded subways and hovertrains. On the surface and above it looked stunning with sky-high buildings and ship workshops scattered all around. The various parks were a nice getaway from the busy life although there was one thing you could never avoid in Coronet city – the constant buzzing of vehicles and the distant sounds of ship engines that were leaving and arriving at Coronet spaceport every few minutes.

But the unfortunate reality was that crime was just as rampant as in any other city in the galaxy. Thieves, murderers, escaped convicts, gangs and even a terrorist organization or a crime syndicate would occasionally pop up. The latter two were usually taken care of by CORSEC as fast as possible but there just weren't enough officers to stop all the crime or apprehend every wrongdoer. There were special areas in Coronet city which CORSEC officers deemed black zones – mostly lawless areas where most of the crimes were happening. Even with their best efforts, CORSEC officials would get lucky if they were able to stop a murder from happening for twelve hours. It was the sad reality of city life especially on a planet where immigration was off the charts.

He arrived at his apartment in the middle of the night. It was located on the twenty-first floor of a skyscraper. It looked quite extravagant on the outside due to its spiral design but the apartments inside were just average – each having from three to five rooms depending on the number of occupants. Many of the building's floors were also office areas for various smaller and private shipyards in the area. Razer used to own a five-room apartment but moved to a three-room one after he was left alone.

The small apartment came with a fully furnished kitchen and living room which were located in the same room, a bedroom with a refresher and a guest room which never got used. A stack of boxes laid in the middle of the living room. As he opened it, it turned out that somebody somehow got into his apartment and left his gear there. His shirt, vest, and goggles were still stained with blood. At the bottom of the box beneath the knife was the picture of his wife and daughter. He took it out of the box carefully and stared at it while running a thumb down his wife's cheek. He knew he shouldn't blame himself for what happened, but it was just within the nature of every being. Every time he saw the photo the same questions ran through his head – could I have done more? How did the situation even get to that point? But he put all those questions and anger and sadness aside to focus on the good. Neither his wife or daughter knew about his involvement with TFV. Vella's infinite wisdom and constant barraging that he wasn't spending enough time with his daughter made him feel bad, especially when he had to lie that in the business, he was in there was no other way he could work, while his daughter's – Bara's smile kept him going.

Pushing away the memories where he and Vella argued he brought himself to smile and took the picture with him to the bedroom where he placed it by the lamp on the drawer. He positioned the photo so that it faced him as he gradually fell asleep.

He grumbled in annoyance. This was around the twentieth time somebody rang the bell. Everything in his body was telling him not to stand up but on the thirtieth ring, he had enough. He quickly put on the clothes he had on yesterday and made his way to the door, mumbling something to himself on the way there.

He only fully woke up once he and his guest who turned out to be an excited, well as excited as he could get, showed up.

"I've been talking to pretty much all of my contacts in the military. Everywhere from here on Corellia to some backwater planet in the Outer Rim, I forgot the name of. They gave their recommendations and me and a couple of the guys from TFV have been eliminating the bad ones and the contacting the good. There are only a few candidates that fit the potential to be commandos, but I think you'll like them," He said waving the datapad around. "You seem to be pretty dazed. Mind if I read the files?" he offered.

"Sure, go ahead. I won't stop you," Razer said leaning back on the sofa and stretching.

"Before we begin, I guess you read the criteria."

"Yes, they must be heavily specialized in something," Razer said waving his arm dismissively.

"So, the first one would be Hawker. He was the only one that expressed the wish to join. The only thing he requires is your confirmation and you have your marksman sorted," Marleen told him.

"Of course, I'll take him. I've never seen anybody with a better shot than him."

"Good, so that's taken care of. Now let's move on to the interesting stuff," He said scrolling further down. He began reading files of explosive specialists. One especially caught Razer's attention. "Shammfisk Uchisr or Fisk as his comrades call him. Twenty-four years old, a native of Mirial, has a long history with explosives and the military. He created his first bomb when he was five and almost blew up the mine his father worked in at the time. Wasn't ever any good in school so he did the bare minimum he had to, to join the army. He has quite a unique, charming and sometimes childish personality but he gets the job done. He can make bombs out of pretty much anything you could think of and he has successfully defused over a hundred different bombs and explosive devices. He is also very proficient in heavy weapons usage."

"Only five explosive specialists?" Razer asked.

"Well after we eliminated the ones we didn't deem fit for the task we had to contact them. We wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting into. Frontline combat isn't for everyone," Marleen reminded him.

"This Fisk guy… Have you talked to him directly?"

"I have talked to everybody on this list. That's why it's so short," Marleen said. "Fisk is lighthearted and determined but he seems a bit overconfident though I think you could manage him well enough."

"This selection system is pretty unreliable," Razer protested. "Can't we arrange some sort of test or something?"

"I wish. We were provided no funding and we are supposed to have a full squad battle-ready within ten days from now and there's no way we could fly everybody here and perform tests."

"Continue," Razer said with a wave of his hand.

Next up were medics. All of them were pretty much the same but one differed so greatly Razer thought it was either a joke or a mistake. "Annalie Rooychi, twenty-one, Corporal, Pantoran, daughter of an influential man in the Pantoran Assembly. She possesses way above average intelligence. Finished school two years earlier than normal and graduated from the Academy of medical sciences on Alderaan with perfect grades. She was well on her way to becoming one of the top minds in medical studies but her interests lied elsewhere. The local Pantoran army offered her insurmountable funding to develop new battlefield medicine. She took it much to the disdain of her family who saw it as an act of treason against them. After not heeding her father's warnings she was practically disowned by her family. At age twenty she had already patented thirty-five new forms of medicine, surgeries and battlefield aid. And also, as an interesting fact the experimental surgery you underwent – that whole thing with whatever they did she invented it. Anyway, after serving a year in the army, mostly spending her time in the labs she expressed the wish to test her new battlefield equipment in a practical scenario. She was deployed on Orto Plutonia with her regiment to take care of the remnants of a gang that had been terrorizing Pantora for years. On that one mission, she saved the lives of sixteen men."

"She's only twenty-one?" Razer asked with a raised brow. Marleen nodded in response. "I'm guessing she's all excited to help an even bigger cause?"

"Very," Marleen complied.

"Good. She's definitely someone I want. So, what's left?"

"A category that's completely deserted – slicing or hacking or whatever you want to call it. Guess that job is mostly reserved for criminals but perhaps…"

"Don't even think about it," Razer warned him. He knew what Marleen was thinking about – he wanted to recruit a criminal.

"Give me a chance to explain. This guy was brought in two days ago. He was found in a government warehouse and you know what kind of encryptions those doors have." He was right the Corellians had one of the best anti-slicing encryptions in the galaxy so whoever did this had to be good.

"You piqued my interest," Razer began. "Where is he being held?"

"In a youth detention center not far from here," Marleen answered.

"A kid? Have you gone mad?"

"I checked everything," Razer assured him. "He will turn eighteen in nine days."

Razer buried his face in his palms. "He'll never get accepted. He can't even have any military training."

"I can make it work. Just give me a chance. The warden there is a friend from way back, we can go meet the kid right now," Marleen told him.

Razer leaned back again, pinched his nose bridge and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marleen knocked on the plasma door and a few moments later a tall old man with long hair stepped out of the interrogation room.

"It's good to see you again Marleen. You can go talk to the kid whenever you want," he said his deep voice echoing through the corridor. Coronet City's juvenile detention center was built underground just as any other prison in the city was. They were currently on the lowest level where the most troublesome children were located. Most of them came from similar backgrounds – a poor family, an abusive family, orphans, who were turned into criminals by gangs and other groups of criminals. The lower levels were reserved for the murderers. Razer couldn't help but feel bad for them. Mere children being taught to carry out someone's dirty work, so they could live free while those kids spent the rest of their lives in prison. It was sickening, but it was reality.

"Thank you Alexander, but my friend here will be the one doing the talking," Marleen said tilting his head towards Razer for the moment.

"He's all yours just don't expect much. We have been questioning him for days now and thankfully the law prevents us from doing more otherwise I fear the interrogators would've done some really undesirable things to him." He then straightened his uniform. "I'll be seeing you gentlemen," he said before heading off down the corridor.

"You got this?" Marleen asked him.

"Yeah," he said with a nod. The room nearly burnt his eyes when he entered. A powerful light shone on the white walls which instilled a blinding effect upon entering it. His vision returned soon, and he finally saw the man in question – a narrow faced, long nosed human with a crew cut. His green-brownish eyes gazed at Razer emotionlessly as he neared the table.

He sat down and picked up the datapad with the kid's file on it. No name, parents, origins, nothing. The only things that were stated were his affiliation with the Blue Street gang which was the largest and most feared gang in the blue sector – one of the CORSEC designated black zones. Beneath that was a list of his crimes which exclusively consisted of slicing into places he wasn't supposed to. "Wasting your whole life in prison. Is this where you thought you would end up?" Razer asked putting the datapad back on the table. "What's your name?"

He received no answer.

"You know, I never understood you street rats." The kid winced and his left eye twitched.

"I'm no street rat," he whispered aggressively.

"From the way I see it…"

"I didn't have a choice. I never had a choice," he said pulling his cuffed hands towards him, making the table tremble. "I had nothing. No family, no friends, nothing. Joining the gang was the only way I could've survived." At this point the kid was talking in a normal tone but he kept pulling at the chains and he began shaking and his breathing became fast and heavy. "I wanted out as soon as I could but for years, they kept me from doing the bigger jobs. Robbing the government warehouse was my way out. I wanted to help people not steal from them and now I'm here." He said all of that with such speed that Razer needed a bit to process everything he heard.

"Well it's not too late for you," Razer told him calmly. His shaking lessened and he leaned slightly forward suggesting that he was interested in what he was about to hear. "But first, have you ever killed anyone?"

A sheepish smile appeared on his face for a moment before he began speaking. "The last time I had a blaster in my hands I nearly shot myself three times in the span of a minute. So, no, I haven't killed anyone neither did I ever want to. I just wanted to get away and start a new life," he explained.

"Although I have no reason to believe you, I do."

"Wait, what is this? Who are you? You don't look like one of those interrogators." His breathing became quick and heavy again. To Razer it seemed like he had a minor panic attack.

"I'm the man who can save you and give you purpose if you're willing to answer my questions," Razer told him with his hands clasped together on the table in front of him.

"Sure."

"Let's try this question again then. Your name?"

"Never knew my actual name but people call me Glitch."

"Are you willing to fight?" Razer asked.

"What? Fight? Why?" His face was written with disbelief.

"As I'm sure you know there's a war going on out there. I'm making a team that will act as an experimental commando squad," Razer explained.

He barked out a laugh. "Commando? You have to be joking right?" Razer's expression didn't change. "You're not joking," he realized which made him calm down.

"I'm only willing to recruit the best."

"Then why are you talking to me," he said with a confused gaze. "I just told you a minute ago that I don't even know how to use a blaster and I don't even look like commando material." His body was skinny, and his posture wasn't great as well.

"Those things can be worked on and improved. You're the best slicer we could find, and I promise you that if you stick with me you won't just go free after all of this is over, you'll also do good things," Razer assured him.

"I…I…" He was looking at the ground indecisively while fiddling with his hands.

"You have seven days to make the decision. And don't worry about your age, you'll be eighteen by the time we ship out. You have an opportunity to right your wrongs and do something with yourself instead of rotting in a cell for years and wasting your potential," Razer reminded him as he stood up from the chair.

"Will my criminal record be cleared if I join?" he asked when Razer made it to the door frame.

"That can be arranged," he answered before continuing onwards.

(Coruscant)

 _9 days later…_

Razer's shuttle landed in docking bay 12 alongside many other civilian transports from Corellia. These transports could carry around about fifty people but there had to be more than one assigned to the same route at the same time due to the high amount of people travelling to Coruscant every day. Coruscant was the galaxy's center of business, education and pretty much everything else. The only categories in which other planets could rival the ecumenopolis were tourism and shipbuilding industry.

The spaceport itself was 20 stories high and had more than two hundred docking bays from which ships were constantly leaving and arriving. It all went so fast that Razer didn't even see that all of their transports were already replaced by various freighters, luxury liners, transports from other planets and other types of ships.

Out of the corner of his eye Razer spotted two soldiers clad in white armor with red stripes, one carrying a riot shield and baton while the other was holding a datapad with a pistol holstered on his belt. They were switching between looking at the datapad and at him and after a few moments they began approaching him.

"Lieutenant?" The trooper with the pistol asked as they approached him.

"Yes, that's me. Who are you?"

"I'm CT-1129, he's CT-1240. We were assigned to take you to base sir," CT-1129 explained, clipping his datapad to his belt.

"Numbers…" Razer said to himself. He absolutely hated the concept of attaching a number to a being. Even though he knew they were all clones and looked the same it didn't mean that they were machines. "Don't you have nicknames or something?"

"Some of the boys do sir but we've just come out of training a couple of weeks ago. From what we've heard you get named after what you're known for or you just take on a random name after a while," the other trooper said as they strolled down the large unconfined corridors of the spaceport. The spaceport also turned out to be a shopping center with stores that practically sold every item at every level of quality.

A few turbolift rides and about fifteen minutes of walking later they finally made it out of the giant maze that was the Coruscant spaceport. Awaiting him on top of the stairs that led to a platform where the vehicles were parked Razer's jaw dropped at the scale of the buildings and just the sheer view of the city. Razer always thought Coronet City's skyscrapers were high but those ones seemed as if they were twice the size. He also thought that the buzzing of speeders and ships couldn't get louder but oh how wrong he was – the sound that the traffic here made was twice as loud than on Corellia.

A blue and white airspeeder awaited them at the vehicle platform. Razer seated himself in the back behind the troopers and threw his duffel bag on the free seat beside him. They took off and flew onto one of the invisible skylanes where the autopilot started doing most of the work and before long Razer was flying past the giant round structure which was the Senate building. Everything but the size of the building was pretty normal – no extravagant windows or decorations on the outside and it was painted in a bland gray color.

On the other side of the Senate building and about two minutes of driving away was the military base and staging area where four Venator-class cruisers were parked. From high up in the sky he could see the formations of clones that were slowly moving towards the cruisers unanimously as the airspeeder slowly started dropping altitude. He spotted their target – a large complex of low and long I-shaped buildings which had to be the barracks. They were built in a way where they could hold a lot of troops while at the same time enabling them to deploy quickly if a situation occurred.

They landed in front of one of those buildings and Razer and the two clones jumped out of the speeder.

"This the last one?" a different clone who had been waiting for them asked.

"Yes, sir," the two clones said simultaneously.

"Good. You're dismissed." Without uttering a word the two clones saluted, went back to the speeder and flew off.

The clone then focused his view on Razer. "Welcome to Coruscant lieutenant. I'm sergeant Rash I'll be showing you to your quarters. All of your squad mates are waiting for you."

"Well then let's not keep them waiting," Razer said gesturing towards the open door of the barrack.

Inside the barrack was the first time that Razer saw the clones' faces. It felt weird the first time he saw two people that looked exactly the same converse with each other, but he told himself that he would try to get used to it. Rash have him a quick tour of the place, showing off the recreational facilities and the mess.

Finally, they arrived outside their quarters. "I will leave you to it sir," Rash said before saluting him. Razer returned the salute and the clone scurried off into the long corridors of the barrack.

Razer opened the door revealing the decently sized room with 3 bunks another room off to the side and five round chambers with their new gear hanging off it – commando armor. These were custom made due to the various sizes of his team members. They looked much heavier and bulkier than the normal clone trooper armor and they were as white as the clouds he saw back on Alderaan. He was so overwhelmed by the sight he didn't even notice the rest of his squad mates except for Hawker get up from their bunks and stand at attention.

It was only when Hawker threw a boot at him did he realize where he was. He never really required any of his teammates back at TFV to salute him or even call him sir because he deemed it unnecessary – for him every soldier was worth the same as any other regardless of function and rank.

He walked up to Fisk first who he could tell was hiding a grin. "Shammfisk Uchisr or Fisk?" Razer asked him. The Mirialan was about half a head taller than him, his green skin being adorned by black diamond-shaped tattoos that went from under his eyes directly down to his neck where they ended. He also sported an undercut.

"Fisk would be preferable sir," he said, his deep voice echoing around the room.

"And try to relax big guy," he said patting his shoulder which made him finally reveal his hidden grin.

"Will do," he said with a firm nod. Razer turned away and continued pacing. He stopped before Glitch.

"I hope you're all acquainted to each other," he said.

"Mostly sir," Glitch responded. Razer looked down and noticed that his hands were shaking and his breathing was becoming faster.

"Calm down kid you have nothing to worry about," he told him before moving on. "I will not require you to call me sir or salute me whenever you see me so calm yourselves." He pointed at Hawker who was sitting on the top bunk reading his little book. "This guy – his name's Hawker. I've been working with him for years. One of the best marksmen this galaxy can offer. He knows how everything works when I'm in charge so if you ever want to know something ask him if I'm not around." Not taking his eyes off the book, Hawker gave them a casual two-fingered salute.

"And last but not least Annalie Rooychi," he said stopping in front of the blue-skinned Pantoran with short and straightened ashen hair. Her face transformed into a frown and her black eyes gazed at him dangerously. Razer also noticed that she didn't have any markings on her face which was something every Pantoran had.

"I would prefer to be called Lek," she said, her frown slowly easing into a neutral expression.

"Lek? Sounds unique," Razer commented.

"The word means comes from the ancient Pantoran tongue. It was a word used for battlefield doctors as they called them back then," she explained.

"Why don't you have any markings? I thought all Pantorans had them?"

"Sometimes the marks tell people what family you're from, sometimes they show your status or you just have them for the sake of it. I used to carry my family's markings with me but with the whole ordeal with them not wanting anything to do to me I wiped them off," she explained. Her distancing herself from her family seemed to make her into a stronger individual.

"All of you have made a decision, why you made that decision I don't care. What I do care about is that we put our differences aside if there are any and work as a unit. These are the only terms I'm laying forth. If anybody has a problem they can leave," he said, stopping his pacing and turning around to face them. Nobody showed any signs of leaving so he continued. "Our commanding officer will be here soon so try to behave." Just as he finished saying that the door behind him slid open. "Sooner than I expected," he said to himself before turning around.

A clone wearing armor with blue markings, a shoulder paldron and some sort of short skirt entered the room followed by a tall human with short brown hair who had a weird cylindrical looking thing on his belt.

"Viper squad?" the clone asked. Razer was surprised when he heard their name. Marleen must've worked his magic to get them that name again he thought to himself. The clones were the same person, but they had different hairstyles and personalities – some even tattooed their face to differentiate each other from the rest, but what seemed to really be the biggest difference was the way their armor was colored.

"That'd be us sir," Razer answered.

"I'm Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and this is Captain Rex. You've been assigned to the 501st legion and being the loving man that Rex is he wanted to greet you personally," Anakin said with a grin on his face. At first glance Razer deemed him easy to work with due to his apparent easy-going attitude but he would have to spend more time around him to make sure.

"The original plan was to tell you that we're moving out in two days so you could prepare yourselves in advance. And welcome to the 501st."

* * *

 _This will be the unofficial ending to the fanfic because I decided to take a week or two off and focus on the main trilogy. Hopefully for those that read my other work you'll find this satisfying._

 _I will return to this in the future to at least tell the story of how their first mission went and if I enjoy it I may do even more but as I said the main trilogy is my priority right now. Just to give you a quick summary of what's it about - the story will focus on Myria and Keira, their training as Sith and Jedi, their challenges during the war between the Republic and the Empire and what happens when they eventually reunite. If you find this mildly interesting I would urge you to stick around as this might be the best work I'm ever going to put out._


End file.
